From hell Being a melodrama in sixteen parts

Moore, renowned in mainstream comics for reinterpreting superheroes, blends history and horror in a graphic novel recounting the Jack the Ripper killings in 1888 London. Positing a conspiracy involving the royal family, Scotland Yard, and the Freemasons, Moore examines victims' and perpetrators' lives and harshly depicts the murders and their putative cover-up in what is less a work of suspense than a portrayal-cum-indictment of the era's inequities and injustices. Elements of mysticism tie the book's events to the dawn of the next millennium and hint that we aren't as far removed from the Ripper's cruel milieu as we may think. Moore's meticulous research (42 pages of annotation follow the story) helps him evoke Victorian England convincingly, and his characterization and storytelling skills make the story grippingly harrowing. Although Moore deserves the most credit for its impact, the book's effectiveness would be unimaginable without Campbell's atmospheric black-and-white drawings, which, alternately scratchy and blotchy, with deep black ink seemingly consisting of chimney soot and blood, give life to the horrific portrayal of squalid brutality. --Gordon Flagg